Method of burning clay for ballast



(No Model.)

W. & H. G. BUTLER.

METHODOF EURNING GLAY FOB. BALLAST, am,

No. 413.358. Patented 0013.22, 1889.

m mw L {W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM BUTLER AND HENRY G'L'BUTLER, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS TO THE DAVY CLAY BALLAST COMPANY, OF ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF BURNING CLAY FOR BALLAST, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 413,358, dated October 22, 1889.

Application filed April 1, 1889. Serial No. 305,508. (No model.)

To all whom it nutty concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM BUTLER and HENRY G. BUTLER, citizens of the United States, residing at Kenosha, in the county of Kenosha and State of \Visconsin, have in- -Vented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Burning Clay to Make Ballast, &c.,

of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to an improvement in the method as set forth in Letters Patent of the United States No. 871,042, granted on the 4th day of October, 1887, to William Davy, and entitled Method of Making Ballast and Paving Material, which method is an improvement on that set forthin Letters Patent of the United States, No. 305,432, granted on the 23d day of September, 1884, also to the aforesaid lVillia-m Davy, and consisting, broadly stated, in burning clay in the open air to accomplish the obj ect of the invention, instead of in kilns, as it had previously been burned. v

In order that ourpresentimprovementmay be the more readily understood, we state briefly the aforesaid method, in which it is stated to constitute an improvement.

A location is selected, ordinarily near a railroad, upon ground containing clay, which term includes any suitable dirt. Fuel (kindlin g) is then laid in a line perhaps a thousand or more feet in length, when clay is dug along one side of the line of fuel and a few feet therefrom, whereby a trench is formed incipiently, and the clay is heaped 011 the fuel to a thickness of several inches. The interstices between the clay are then supplied 7 with coal, and openings may be left at intervals near the top of the long heap, through which to introduce coal-oil, or the like readilyinfiammable material, where the igniting is performed, aft-er which the openings shouldbe supplied with coal and filled up with clay.- As soon as the fire has made sufficient headway it is slaked with coal; and when the pile has become a glowing mass another cov-' at intervals until the fire requires drawing or raking. Eventually, by the gradual increase of the width of the pile toward the trench, it reaches the latter, and is continued in the same, sloping toward it from the top of the heap, and from time to time drawn or raked. The trenchfrom which the layers of clay are applied is gradually increased in depth till it becomes about eight feet deep, after which it should be merely widened, without deepening it. hen the pile reaches a desired height, a shoulder is formed along the edge of its top, and from the shoulder, when its substance has become suflicient-ly hot, the glowing material is shoveled down upon the side of the heap, filling up unevenness and giving renewed impetus to the fire.

Our improvement differs from the method thus briefly described in the following particulars, among others hereinafter to be stated:

NVe do not lay the fire a material distance away from the trench, nor burn on opposite sides of a heap, but extend the pile immediately into the trench by replenishing it with fuel and clay only on the side of the pile adjacent to the trench.

We avoid drawing or raking of the fire and undermining it to precipitate it into the trench, and thereby materially obviate cooling by the exposure of the glowing mass, and we secure the same avoidance as to the glowing shoulder by the particular manner we observe in forming and utilizing it.

. Among the more important objects to be accomplished by our improvement the following may be stated: To save time andlabor in laying the fuel; to diminish the draft at and near the bottom of the pile, thereby to avoid intensifying the fire above the base at the expense or to the detriment of the burning of the mass at the base portion thereof; to

increase the area of the pile from the. begin-.

ing thereof; and to improve the burning, especially of close or slow burning clay, as the dirt burned is termed, by a particular manner of forming andfiut-ilizing the shoulder extended from' the top of the pile.

By Way of assisting a ready comprehension of our improvement, we have, so far as is necessary to represent the steps practiced in carrying out our method, illustrated them in the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 represents a cross-sectional view of the fire, including in the term the pile and its immediate surroundings, in an incipient stage. Figs. 2 and 3 represent similar views of the same, respectively illustrating more advanced stages; and Fig. 4 is a similar View thereof at a still more advanced stage.

To start a new fire, or, in other words, commence a new burning, we dig (by hand or (and preferably) by suitable machinery we employ for the purpose) a trench, and pile the earth at one side of the trench in a manner to cause it to slope from its top toward the trench at the side of the latter on which it is piled, thus forming a long pile r, slanting on both sides, and extending the length of the trench, which thus corresponds in length with that of the fire. Upon the sloping side of the pile 4, (which we suggest ively term the spoil-bank,) nearest the trench, we place any suitable fuel for kindling, preferably wood, and upon the latter we apply additional fuel, coal being preferred. A layer of earth dug from the trench is then piled on the prepared side of the spoil bank, during which operation care should be taken to provide at intervals openings at which to introduce fire for igniting the fuel. vided, as aforesaid, for the purpose should be filled with earth, thereby to complete the covering. \Vhen the fire has made sufficient headway, additionalfuel is applied to the surface of the burning pile, or the fire is again slacked with coal previous to imposing another layer of the clay, and thenceforward the alternate slaking and piling on of clay are proceeded with, as described in the said Patent No. 371,0 i2.

The advantages of the above-described proceeding of forming the spoil-bank are that by forming the trench and placing the soil taken from it close to the excavation room is attained for building the fire both low and high at the start, thereby initially providing a large continuous surface for the burning and permitting the trench to be deepened rapidly, thereby permitting early access to the better quality of dirt for burning; and by providing a solid bank 4 much time is saved over the former method referred to in placing kindling; and as a primary advantage the spoil-bank, by partly closing the base of the pile, prevents the draft or cold wind striking it from driving out the heat, whereby the 7 heat by being retained increases and is forced to the surface the more rapidly, and as the After ignition the openings propile increases in dimensions the heat is prevented from becoming intense above the base to the detriment of that at the bottom, between the base of the trench and apex of the spoil-bank. V

' When the pile or fire has been increased to such dimensions and burned sufficiently long to afford its own protection-that is, when the mass between the bank r and trench has been burned and cooled to a sufficient thick ness to aflord the desired protectionthe spoil-bank may be gradually removed and carried over to the opposite side or breast of the pile and burned, thereby cleaning it up and having only first-class ballast throughout the pile. As will hereinafter be explained, however, the spoil-bank, or at least a portion of it, is utilized for a further purpose than that described before being spread over the breast of the fire.

Should there, from time to time during the burning, be any unburned dirt on the pile, as there may be at different points, instead of opening and drawing the fire, as is practiced according to the aforesaid Patent No. 371,042, the unburned dirt is removed by shoveling it to one side, and on the ground (in the trench) close to the base of the fire, fuel (preferably coal) is scattered, and red-hot substance is shoveled thereon from the breast of the fire from a distance of several feet above the bottom, care being taken to avoid opening the fire so much as would permit material exposure of the glowing mass; and upon this scattered foundation of fuel and hot clay additional fuel is applied, and the previouslyremoved unburned portions are imposed upon it. WVhen the long pile has reached a height (say five feet from the surface of the ground) beyond which it is not deemed practicable to continue it, and after which it is only increased in width and in depth in the trench, we build, especially for close or slow burning dirt, a shoulder 19, by raising it from the finished or leveled top of the pile to a height of from six inches to one and one-half foot, (more or less,) more particularly for the purpose of covering the material forming the finished top, and thereby allowing it to be thoroughly burned. The shoulder is maintained several feet (about two or three) wide, and is so maintained by shoveling, each time the breast of the fire (including that of the shoulder) is covered with a layer of clay to be burned, so much from the rear side of the shoulder upon the breast of the fire as will equal or about .equal the fresh covering of clay, thereby utileach covering thereof is shoveled over upon 4 the breast of the fire before a succeeding layer of clay is applied thereto, thus procuring the burning of all the mud or dirt and producing clean hard-burned ballast throughout the pile.

We employ coal for the step known asslaking, as being, ordinarily, the preferred and most readily obtainable fuel for our purpose; but we do not Wish to be understood as limiting our improved method to the use of any particular kind of fuel.

What We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

1. In burning clay to produce ballast and the like by forming atrench and burning adjacent to it, in the open air, material taken therefrom, the method of facilitating the burning, which consists in forming a spoilbank 0" adjacent to the trench and constructing the pile of fuel and clay to be burned on the side of the spoil-bank adjacent to the trench, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In burning clay to produce ballast and the like by forming a trench and burning adjacent to it, in the open air, material taken therefrom, the method of facilitating the burning, which consists in forming a spoilbank 7" adjacent to the trench, constructing the pile of fuel and clay to be burned on the side of the spoil-bank adjacent to the trench, and securing the burning of any insufficientlyburned material in the pile by removing it therefrom, imposing near the base of the pile fuel and burning material from the breast of the pile, and applying thereon such insuffispoil-bank adjacent to the trench, forming on the top of the pile a shoulder 19, spreading burning substance from the rear of the shoulder upon the .breast of the pile, and covering the rear of the shoulder from which the said burning substance is taken, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In burning clay to produce ballast and the like by forming a trench and burning ad jacent to it, in the open air, material taken therefrom, the method of facilitating the burning, which consists in forming a spoilbank 0' adjacent to the trench, constructing the pile of fuel and clay to be burned on the side of the spoil-bank adjacent to the trench, forming 011 the top of the pile a shoulder 10, spreading at intervals burning substance from the shoulder upon the breast of the pile, and banking material from the spoil-bank against the said shoulder when the said burning substance is removed therefrom, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM BUTLER.

HENRY G. BUTLER. 

